This invention relates to systems for stabilizing tractor digging equipment such as those with backhoe/loaders. Digging action imposes a translation force on the equipment, and some stabilization is necessary to prevent the equipment from tipping or rolling in response to that force.
In a conventional stabilization practice for backhoe/loaders, the leading edge of the loader bucket is used to support the front end of the equipment as it is lifted from the ground by forward digging action by the backhoe at the other end. To achieve this position, the loader bucket must be placed in an orientation that is not recommended by the manufacturer, i.e., the bucket is fully rolled-over to orient the leading bucket edge in a downward position. Moreover, the degree of stabilization afforded by such a configuration depends in large part on the supporting substrate; while the leading bucket edge can dig effectively into soft materials such as loose dirt, it cannot dig into hard materials such as frozen ground or concrete surfaces, and for such hard surfaces, the loading bucket edge is not an effective stabilizer. Finally, the bucket edge may damage asphalt or other street surfaces.
It is an object of this invention to provide a stabilizer system readily installed as a retrofit to existing tractors which does not damage street surfaces, which does not impose undue stresses on the loader arm, linkage or pin, which is self-storing without loose pins or retainers in a configuration that does not interfere with normal loading operation, and which may be used on hard or frozen surfaces as well as soft surfaces.